Prohibition and the wickersham reports + reefer madness

History of prohibition movements in the US

Temperance societies formed in early 19th century

•Protestants, social progressives, and women’s movements (including those advocating female suffrage) were ardent prohibitionists.

•Some states become “dry” long before the 18th Amendment (1917) and the Volstead Act (1919) and the period of prohibition (1920-1933)

•Anti Saloon League (ASL) pushes the case for prohibition in early twentieth century

•Some “Wets” feared female suffrage

•”Wet” versus “Dry” divide cut across political parties and ethnic divides

•At same time, there was an emerging ethnic divide with foreigners,

Immediate backdrop to prohibition

Wartime Prohibition Act of 1918 banned beverages with alcohol content greater than 1.28%

•Intended to save grain for the war effort

•In midst of wartime campaign, prohibitionists pass the 18th Amendment to the Constitution and 36 of 48 states ratify it during 1918 thus making it law.

•Volstead Act is the enabling legislation for the 18th Amendment

federalism and prohibition

Enforcement of prohibition was “concurrent” power as both federal and state authorities were tasked with carrying it out.

But unlike the War on Drugs, there was not a flow of resources from federal to the state level

As a result, the federal government and the states tried to shift the burden for enforcing prohibition onto the other

Some “Wet” states (meaning they had not prohibited the sale of alcohol prior to the Volstead Act) failed to fund state level prohibition enforcement

By 1927, 28 states had no funding directed toward prohibition enforcement agencies

Public health affects of prohibition

Levels of alcohol consumption decreased, as did alcohol related deaths overall.

•At same time, the production of “moonshine” and other forms of alcohol lead to periodic public health crises

•Doctors generally opposed prohibition as they often prescribed and used alcohol so all sorts of medical exemptions were created and the sale of alcohol persisted

effects of prohibition on crime

National crime statistics only became available as of 1930, so the data must be interpreted carefully, but: 1920-1921: Crime rates rose by 24% (a good chunk of that is an inevitable effect of defining a new sphere of crime overnight)

The murder rate doubles from decade 1900-1910 to 1920-1930 (and fall after repeal of Prohibition in 1933)

Growth of organized crime - Supplying alcohol was “the best public relations gangs ever enjoyed”

Public perception of rising crime creates sense of unlawfulness and pressure for a political response like Hoover’s in 1928

government and FBI reach in prohibition

prohibition brought about questions abotu the reach and not reach of the state

collection fo info in the mann act and other ealry work had nothing on the reach fo the fbi in prohibition,

Corruption and inefficiency of federal and state prohibition agencies

The Federal Prohibition Bureau had 1500 field agents when it was founded in 1919

•By 1926 it had grown by 100% (but 3000 field agents is not a lot for an entire country)

•Field agents earned the equivalent of $35,000 today, opening the path for corruption and capture by organized crime

•9% of all federal prohibition agents discharged for corruption over the course of Prohibition

Second Rise of KKK

Kkk grew a bunch in 1920s recruited from the Protestant church

Cooperation between local police and kkk to enforce prohibition

•KKK framed  “dry” America as the  “100 percent America” and “wet” America as foreign

•The lack of enforcement by federal and state authorities opened up space for the KKK’s vigilantism.

•Alliance between KKK and protestant churches---KKK gets legitimacy and the Church gets more donations and attendees.

•By identifying itself as defender of “Law and Order” the KKK seeks to make itself respectable.

•And it succeeds (at least temporarily) as the KKK becomes a movement of middle class protestants in the Midwest

The ethnic dimension

Prohibitionists spoke of stopping “the foreign invasion of underdeveloped races” and “crime-breeding, sloth producing saloons” that “tempted ide and criminal negroes… to commit heinous offense.”

•Pushback from ethnic communities: local parade of Irish, German and African Americans in NYC during prohibition carries banner “We’re American Citizens, Not Inmates”

•Enforcement patterns show a clear ethnic and class bias (immigrants, blacks, and poor whites in the south bore the brunt of enforcement efforts)

The 1928 election

Arguably the first American election fought on the terrain of “culture”

•Al Smith (Democratic, NY) was urban, Catholic, and appealed to working-class voters.

•Republicans charged that Smith was not a real American

•Election as partial referendum on prohibition

•Hoover wins in a landslide and tries to ramp up enforcement of the Volstead Act

reefer madness

a movie from 1936 said to be about real events and largely about the horrible inpact and corrupting affects of marijuana which they equate with cocaine and heroine calling it even mroe dangerous and more accessible to young people

very clearly anti weed film and pushes a narrative that weed made peopl violent and essentially out of their mind temporarily so that they migth even kill others or themselves. also presented as coming from older adults who supply it and presents authority figires (the principle mainly) as a caring person trying to save the young men from themselves and from this horrible corrupting drug - narratives of corruption of youth and sudden violence and uncontrolledness + connection to a minority (in this case mexican immirgants) that could be seen in future war on drugs media

wickersham reports

the first time the government took a look at its own laws and enforcement - showed also that when the government put its mind and resources to researching smth they find out a lot

remembered as an indictment of prohibition enforcement

wickersham reports conclusions about enforcement

people may have agreed with temperance or some extent but didn’t realize they were signing on to full hardcore prohibition

training was minimal in fact agents were given guns badges and optional training - no institution to train all these ppl so there was reliance on local and state police - which varied a lot in how harshly they enforced

also interdepartmental rivalries meant different gov departments not working together

lots violations of prohibitions that went ignored as well as violations of people’s liberties for harsh enforcement that went ignored

organizational issue: bad wages, lots of job turnover, corruption, enforcement kinda haphazard

lots of potential fr corruption and politicians in some places openly cooperated with gansters

st paul layover system

system in which gangsters could stay over in st paul as long as they didn’t commit any crimes while there and they were left alone by law enforcement. a sort fo safe place to avoid law enforcement since mayor had jurisdiction and this was his system

the gangster trilogy

scarface, little ceaser, and public enemy

movies organized aorund gangsters as protagonists and which gave birth to this classic gangster motif in media - w/ meteroic rise and fall

multiple clealry based on al capone whose rise and fall was really quite short - the rise of one individual gangster who was okay with violence and both challenged legal structires and previosu criminal structures sicne he rose from a pretty low rank in the gang

films say at the start that their intention isn’t to glorify the gangsters but show how bad they are and their terrible end but ultimately these gangsters were soemthign people ended up wanting to emulate

pre haze code movies, also when soudnw as first coming into movies and the really used this with lots of gunfire and engines and attention grabbing sounds

in these movies crime is presented more as a social pronlem and societal fialure rather than a personal evil or political issue, failure of the american dream. - kinda sympathetic

scarface

focuses on tony camonte who works for johnny lovo as a gangster and he starts out with teh assasination of someone and then main focus is gang vs gang violence italians vs irish

themes and focus on greed for pwoer and what it does ot people - he kills everyone around him and dies at the end too

gangster with an insatiable apetitve for power and odd family relationships - possible failed american dream and individualism linked to organized crime

rise of the automatic weapon fr gangster vs gangster war (came from ww1)

the not very effective cops and the seedy suspicious lawyer emulating distrust in law enforcement and criminal justice system to do right and fr cops to give a crap

also this is pre miranda rights so a reference to the 3rd degree suggetss actual violence for suspects in custody

he notably dies dramatically at the end when cops come to get him